Lena Headey

Any way you slice it, Cersei Lannister has had a rough year. Last season on HBO’s epic fantasy series “Game of Thrones,” the cunning Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms watched her sadistic son and the apple of her eye, King Joffrey, die at his own wedding. His murder created new strain in her, shall we say, complicated incestuous relationship with twin brother Jaime, as did her politically motivated engagement to Loras Tyrell, who happens to be gay. To top it all off, her father, Tywin, was murdered — while on the toilet, no less — by her younger brother, Tyrion. With her mild-mannered youngest son Tommen now installed as king, Cersei is now more powerful than ever. Actress Lena Headey has turned Cersei, a character who in lesser hands might be a campy villainess, into a surprisingly sympathetic figure […]

An epic new trailer for the “Game of Thrones” fifth season has arrived along with a selection of new images from the wildly popular HBO fantasy series adapted from the work of author George R.R. Martin. HBO officially released the trailer Friday after a pirated version had surfaced online just hours after the clip made its debut at special Imax “Game of Thrones” screenings, where digitally remastered versions of Season 4’s final two episodes — “The Watchers on the Wall,” about Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and the Battle of Castle Black, and “The Children,” which sees Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) face off against the Hound (Rory McCann) — were shown on the large-format screen. The episodes are currently screening at more than 200 Imax theaters across the country, and are scheduled to play through Feb. 5. The trailer includes a […]

Lena Headey’s Queen Gorgo seeks vengeance for the events of “300” in a new trailer for “300: Rise of an Empire.” Directed by TV commercial ace Noam Murro and produced by Zack Snyder, “Rise of an Empire” is not a sequel or a prequel but a free-standing tale set in the same world and taking place before, during and after the events of “300.” The story is based on Frank Miller’s “Xerxes” (“300″ was based on Miller’s landmark graphic novel of the same name) and the historical Battle of Artemisium, a naval engagement concurrent with “300′s” battle at Thermopylae. “If you took ‘300’ and you zoomed out, that’s what this movie is all about,” Murro said at Comic-Con International in San Diego last summer. “It takes place at about the same time as ‘300.’ It’s just bigger and it gives […]

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” doesn’t return for its third season until March 31, but a new round of photos reveals what’s in store for the denizens of Westeros — and offers an early look at some of the newest additions to the already expansive cast. Chief among the new characters joining the lineup is Ciaran Hinds as King Beyond the Wall Mance Rayder, with other new faces including Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Redwyne, otherwise known as the Queen of Thorns, who’s best described as the Dowager Countess of Westeros. Rigg, of course, remains a beloved figure for her turn as Emma Peel on the BBC TV series “The Avengers.” QUIZ: Test your “Game of Thrones” knowledge The third season of “Game of Thrones” will be based on the first half of “A Storm of Swords,” the third book in […]

On “Game of Thrones,” Lena Headey plays Cersei Lannister, the diabolical but damaged queen who hides behind a face of royal beauty, but fans of the HBO medieval epic might need a moment to recognize the British actress in the sci-fi film “Dredd,” which is scheduled to arrive in September. Like Cersei, Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal ruthlessly puts down all challenges to her authority, but her scarred face is no facade — it’s more like a map of the cruel metropolis called Mega City One. In a world scorched and sickened by radiation wars, Mega City One is one of the last pockets of civilization but it tests the bottom limits of the word. Madrigal is the fierce gang leader who rules Peach Tree City Block and that puts her squarely in the sights of the film’s title character, Judge Joseph Dredd — played by Karl Urban of “Star Trek” […]

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the writer-producers of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” return to the Seven Kingdoms on Sunday with the second season premiere, and the early reviews are glowing. We interviewed the duo for a lengthy feature on Lena Headey, the glowering queen of House Lannister, but got so much out of it that the transcript deserves a post of its own. HC: When you look at Cersei Lannister what is it in her situation and persona that you find most interesting? DB: Cersei is frustrated by the constraints placed on a woman in medieval society, even the most privileged woman in the land. She wishes she were born a man so she could fight her enemies in the open. But she can’t — and so she chooses other methods of combat. As malicious as she sometimes is, Cersei’s motive is familiar […]

The news is dire: The most feared woman in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros is being held captive by Los Angeles mid-morning traffic. Well, more precisely, Lena Headey, the willowy actress who plays Cersei Lannister on “Game of Thrones,” is half an hour late for an interview at the HBO offices in Santa Monica and, when she does arrive, it’s in a swirl of charismatic chaos. “Hectic morning, so sorry,” Headey said as she ran her fingers through jet-black hair that is nowhere close to her broadcast blondness. Her aura was more spiky than regal; two fingers were bandaged after home-project mishaps, her off-the-shoulder top revealed a scattering of tattoos and every fourth or fifth sentence was sprinkled with F-words. “I … hate being late. I’ve lived in L.A. for five years but I forget there’s traffic until I’m in it.” No matter, Headey […]